


Memories Are Made of This

by MiladyDragon



Series: Dragon-Verse: Post-Series Stories [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Dragon-Verse, Dragons, M/M, Minor Character Death, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 06:34:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1848031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The murders of an alien family remind Ianto of his own family's deaths.  Jack helps him through it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories Are Made of This

**Author's Note:**

> I just realized I completely forgot to post this here! This was written a while back for space_monkey52 for her winning bid for Help Japan. She asked for a story that was the anniversary of Ianto's family's deaths and him remembering it...and with bonus points for comfort smut. I did change the prompt a little, but she did like it. 
> 
> I can't believe I never posted it here! *hangs head in shame*

**_19 May 2014_ **

****

They’d been a family of Dolland: father, mother, and daughter.  The Dolland were a peaceful race, from a low-gravity world 24 light-years from Earth.  Mostly, they were artists and intellectuals, and were known as excellent diplomats and mediators. 

Now, they were dead.

Ianto Jones looked down at the remains of the Dolland, feeling sick to his stomach.  An incendiary device had obviously been used to get them out of the crashed hulk of their ship; the mother had been badly burned, but not so bad that she was unrecognizable.  The daughter – who looked to have been about fourteen Earth years old – had been practically cut in half by a hail of bullets, and the father was in just as bad a state.   

It had been a massacre.  And their only crime had been that their ship had been taken by the Rift, and had deposited it in the Brecon Beacons.  That poor family had been in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

_The road had been long, but they were almost home…_

The dragon shook off that thought, not certain where it had come from.  He glanced up to where Jack was in the face of the UNIT captain who had ordered his men to fire on the helpless aliens.  He’d hardly ever seen the immortal so angry.

“ – defenseless,” Jack was yelling.  “They were no threat!”

“They were unregistered aliens,” the captain answered smoothly,  not seeming at all bothered by Jack’s righteous fury.

Relations between Torchwood and UNIT had been going downhill since the incident with the 456, nearly five years ago.  After the dust had settled, Her Majesty’s government had not been happy with UNIT’s involvement in that particular affair, and had threatened to order them off British soil because of it.  It had only been Jack’s insistence that she reconsider that had kept UNIT in Great Britain.

But everything that had happened had effectively soured Torchwood/UNIT cooperation.  Only a few of the old guard – those who hadn’t been involved in the 456 debacle – still even talked to Torchwood on a semi-regular basis. 

Altercations like this were becoming more and more common.  Squabbles over territory and technology had always taken place, but it was so bad now only a couple of weeks ago Jack had joked about conscripting a Torchwood army to deal with things. 

Well, maybe it hadn’t been such a joke, after all.

“It is within UNIT’s purview to restrain unregistered aliens, and to use deadly force if required,” the captain went on.

“Deadly force was _not_ required here, Captain!”  Jack growled.  “If you’d bothered to pay attention in the First Contact seminars I know for a fact that Brigadier General Bambera requires all her officers to attend, you’d have known that the Dolland were a peaceful race and had, in fact, been to Earth before in the Doctor’s time with UNIT.  Hell, they haven’t had weapons on their world in millennia!  There was no danger here!”

“You weren’t here, _Captain_ ,” the UNIT officer said, sarcasm emphasizing Jack’s rank.  “You have no idea what happened before you arrived.  I say there was imminent danger to my men, and I acted accordingly.”

Ianto turned back to the bodies, sorrow choking him.  This family had been no danger to anyone, but they’d still been murdered.

_He could smell the burning, see the bodies around him.  Hear the laughter of their murderers._

“What part of ‘the Dolland are a peaceful race’ didn’t you understand?” Jack snapped. 

“I only have your word for that – “

“And a file that you should, in fact, have read!”

“- and I say this was a hostile situation.”  He looked at Jack slyly.  “I would think you’d stand with your own kind, _Captain_.”

_“They aren’t like us.  They’re evil!  Devil-spawn come to kill us all!”_

The memories were right there, suddenly just below the surface of his thoughts.  Seeing those three innocent bodies there was bringing up things he’d rather not remember.

“You should leave this to UNIT,” the captain went on.  “Torchwood is out of its jurisdiction on this one.”

“Our jurisdiction?”  Jack’s voice went soft, which was usually a sure sign that he was livid and moments away from drawing his Webley.  “Captain Forrester, the last time I checked, all of Great Britain was Torchwood’s jurisdiction.  It’s you and your men who should leave this to us.  Or do I have to call Brigadier General Bambera and have you removed?  I’m sure Winifred would love to be interrupted this close to her son’s birthday.”

For the first time, the UNIT officer looked uncertain. 

“Or maybe the Shadow Proclamation might have something to say about the willful murder of peaceful aliens on a probationary planet?  I assure you, you don’t want to get on the bad side of the Judoon.”

Ianto was taking far too much pleasure in watching Captain Forrester go pale.  “I was within my rights in protecting the sovereignty of planet Earth,” he said, standing even straighter.

_“Don’t kill me!  We were only protecting our own!”_

_“And I’m avenging my family!”_

Ianto couldn’t shake the feeling of déjà vu he was experiencing.  He’d been in so many situations in his very long life; why was this one affecting him so badly?

“Back off, Captain,” Jack snarled. 

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Forrester answered, “You’re outnumbered ten to two.  Now, stand aside and we’ll take over the scene.”

The sound of an automatic slide being ratcheted back snapped Ianto’s full attention to what was going on around them.  He cursed himself for his distraction, putting himself between the bodies of the unfortunate UNIT victims and the weapon Forrester was pointing in his and Jack’s direction.

Jack scoffed.  “Like that’s really going to anything but piss us off!”

Forrester aimed the gun right at Jack’s head.  “You might not stay dead,” the man snarled, “but I can keep shooting you until we load up and clean the area.”

Ianto growled.  This jumped up murdering bastard was threatening his mate.  Certainly, Jack wouldn’t stay dead, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel pain.

The growl must have been loud enough to be heard by the men beginning to surround the pair of Torchwood agents, because a couple of them halted in surprise, their eyes going right to Ianto.  It was obvious that they’d discounted him; after all, his human form was fairly unthreatening. 

He could feel the dragon demanding to be let loose.  Ianto reveled in the power, needing to protect his mate from the pain Forrester had promised to inflict upon him.  Deliberately, he put himself between both captains.  “Do you know who I am?” he demanded, his voice pitched lower than Jack’s had been.

Forrester didn’t look impressed.  Silly ephemeral.  “Just another Torchwood toady.  You don’t frighten UNIT.”

 “Oh, you should be very afraid, little human.  I’m Ianto Jones, Second in Command of Torchwood.  But then, you might know me by my title.”

And with that, he let the dragon free.

Forrester’s eyes went wide, his head tilting back as the dragon rose above him.  The roar that escaped from the dragon’s throat echoed over the shallow valley the ship had crashed in, and all the UNIT soldiers moved back and away from the furious dragon.

“The Torchwood Dragon,” someone whispered.  The dragon couldn’t tell who it was, but everyone knew the Torchwood Dragon after what had happened to the 456.

He glared down at the UNIT troops.  “You murdered three innocents.  You threatened my mate.  Tell me why I shouldn’t burn you where you stand.”  He wanted to; gods and goddesses, he really wanted to.  He wanted to burn these men the same way he’d burned his own family’s killers, all those centuries ago.  In his mind he could see them all as clearly as day….smell the blood and char and hear the snapping of the pyre they’d thrown his mother on.  He wanted to let loose his flame and pay them back for what they did to the Dolland.

Then a hand touched his flank, and the dragon knew it was Jack just by the way the fingers stroked against his scales.  “I’d answer him if I were you,” his mate said, and the dragon could practically hear the wicked grin on Jack’s face.

And yet, there was still some bravado left in Forrester.  “You think you can survive a short-range rocket?”

The dragon laughed.  “You have to get to your launcher first, little man.  I’ll tell you what…I’ll even give you a head start.”  He breathed a small gout of flame toward officer, who barely managed to dodge.  “As it is, it’s completely the wrong answer.”

The images of the knights rose up before him, superimposing itself over the UNIT soldiers.  His lungs filled with air, and he could feel the flame rising within him, ready to cleanse the killers from the face of the planet.

“Oh hey, Winifred,” Jack’s voice suddenly broke through the hallucination.  “I have a troop of your bully boys pissing off my Second…yeah, that.”  He laughed, and  the dragon realized his mate was on his mobile, and who he was talking to.  “It was a family of Dolland…your Captain Forrester had them cut down like wheat.”  Jack’s voice was angry now, and while the dragon wanted to turn and look at him, he didn’t dare.  He kept his eyes on Forrester, who looked even paler than before.   “Yeah, Ianto really wants to torch them…no, that isn’t why we’re called Torchwood…”  The dragon knew that Jack would have rolled his eyes at that, not that it wasn’t the first time anyone had said it.  In fact, Owen had the first time.   

“You got it.”  Jack walked around in front of the dragon, holding out his mobile to the UNIT captain.  “Your superior wants to speak to you.  I suggest you listen.”

The man listened. 

 

**********

 

The dragon couldn’t sleep.

He’d been plagued by nightmares of his family ever since they’d been killed, but today had been the worst.  They’d never intruded into his waking mind before, but that poor family of Dolland and the UNIT troops that had killed them for no reason had reminded him so much of that event that the memories wouldn’t let him rest. 

The dragon lay on the pillows spread out under the skylight, the comforting warmth of Jack’s body curled up against him.  He’d tried to sleep as a human for Jack, but found that he couldn’t without feeling twitchy and out of sorts the next day.  When Jack had found out, his mate had simply laughed, and told him that he didn’t care how the dragon slept, as long as it was beside him. 

But then, there were nights like this.  They were few and far between anymore, but today had been really very bad.

All he could see was the fire, and the blood, and he could hear the mourning song taking him over and his sister’s mate trying to pull him from the grief of the song…

“You’re thinking too hard,” Jack mumbled sleepily.

The dragon turned his head so he could look at his mate.  Jack’s  eyes were looking back, and there was compassion in them.  “Sorry,” the dragon answered,  “Go back to sleep.”

The immortal sat up, leaning his bare back against the dragon’s side.  “Not until you tell me what’s wrong.  I know today was bad, but you were affected more than you’re letting on.”

“It’s just…” the dragon was at a loss to explain.  He’d long ago told Jack about his family, and how they’d been waylaid by Christian knights on their way back from a visit in London.  Somehow they’d known that the family had been dragons, and had killed his father before anyone could react. 

_“They aren’t like us.  They’re evil!  Devil-spawn come to kill us all!”_

It had been a massacre.

Jack shifted his position again, so he could rest his arm on the dragon’s flank.  “You know you can talk to me.”

“I know.”  It hadn’t always been that way, but things had been almost perfect between them for a while now.  “It’s…difficult.”  He sighed.  “It’s just that… that poor family reminded me of mine.”

Understand bloomed in Jack’s face.   “Those sorts of memories take the longest to fade.”

The dragon knew that Jack was right; his mate had his own terrible family memories to bear.   “I really wanted to burn them.  It was almost a compulsion I couldn’t break.”

“Just like you did with your family’s killers.”

He nodded.  “Exactly like that.  I kept seeing them as we faced down UNIT today.  It was worse that the mother had been burned, since the knights had started to burn my mother’s body.”  Living dragons could withstand almost any sort of flame, but once the spirit was gone, the flames would destroy dragon flesh as easily as it did anything else.

“There’s one difference though, between then and now.  You’re not alone to deal with it.”

The dragon’s heart swelled at his mate’s comforting words.  “I know I’m not.  Thank you, Jack.”

Jack smiled.  “You’re welcome.”

The magic swirled, and Ianto changed back to human.  He put his arms around his mate, hugging him fiercely.  Then he rubbed his cheek across Jack’s, in the dragon way of showing affection.  Jack returned it, humming softly.

Then Jack pulled away just enough to press his lips against Ianto’s now human ones.  He let his mate’s tongue in willingly, and their tongues tangled sensuously together.  Ianto had never understood just why kissing was so important to humans until he’d met Jack, and now he couldn’t get enough of them.

Hands began to rove over naked bodies, and Ianto gasped as Jack stroked a nipple into hardness.  Human bodies were so very receptive, and it had taken the immortal to show him just how sensitive soft skin was. 

Jack pressed him back into the pillows, pulling away in order to look down into Ianto’s eyes.  They were smiling softly.  “Let me take care of you tonight, okay?  Let me see if I can’t drive the nightmares away.”

Ianto nodded.  The smile that was in Jack’s eyes spread to his lips, as he leaned forward and kissed Ianto once more, his tongue dancing within the dragon’s human mouth.

He couldn’t help but moan into the kiss.  Ianto dragged his hands over the smooth planes of his mate’s back, running blunt nails over warm skin.  Jack’s mouth moved down across his jaw, nipping then soothing the skin with his tongue, traveling down Ianto’s neck and to his shoulder, and then further down to his already hard nipples.  Ianto arched up against the laving tongue, his inner fire racing through him like molten steel.  Jack’s hands and mouth could do things to him that he’d never imagined, and it wouldn’t matter how long they were together, Ianto would never forget how Jack Harkness made him feel.

How his _mate_ made him feel.

Jack’s hands swept lower, one grasping Ianto’s hard cock.  He ran his thumb over the tip, sliding against the silky warmth of the pre-come that already had begun weeping from the slit.  That wrung another moan from him, his hands clawing at the pillows that surrounded them as Jack drove him insane with the soft touches that he lavished on Ianto’s human skin.

Pleasure blotted out everything except Jack’s hands on him, touching him and grounding him in the here and now, and away from the past.  His mate’s tongue licked against Ianto’s stiff cock, and the feeling almost sent him off the pillows.  Ianto rested a hand on Jack’s head, gently urging him onward.

Jack’s mouth was warm around him, taking him in.  His mate was warmer than any other human Ianto had ever met, and that warmth cradled his penis as Jack licked and sucked its length, and Ianto felt an even hotter flame pool in his belly as he neared his orgasm.

“Stop,” he gasped, tugging slightly on Jack’s hair to get his attention.  “I don’t want to come yet.  I want you inside me when I do.”

Jack released Ianto’s cock.  “If that’s what you want.”

Ianto looked at his flushed and disheveled mate, and he couldn’t have been more in love with him in that moment if he’d tried.  “I want you.”

“You’ve got me.”

“There’s lube in the window sill.”

Jack found it; they’d once tried to keep the lube within the pillows, but it often got lost when they’d needed it most.  The sill of the large skylight was the perfect place to leave it.

His mate knelt between Ianto’s legs, as he applied the lube to his fingers.  He gently pressed one into the dragon’s arse, and Ianto pushed back, needing more than just his fingers.

Jack took the hint, and added a second, then third finger.  Ianto practically rode them, his breathing coming shorter as he panted his need.  He had to have Jack inside him, to completely ground him in the present.  As if reading his mind, the immortal slicked up his own cock, and began to smoothly slide inside the dragon’s channel.

No more memories; no more nightmares.  Only the feeling of Jack’s hands and mouth and tongue, and of skin against skin and the joyous sensation of connecting with his mate in this most intimate way.  This was what Ianto needed more than anything; this comfort of knowing that he wasn’t alone, that he was part of something special, bonded to the man he loved.

Ianto cried out as his orgasm slammed through him, and Jack wasn’t far behind, calling out Ianto’s name as he came.  His mate collapsed down on top of him, still sheathed within Ianto, and he didn’t want Jack to move…ever.

“I love you,” he whispered in his mate’s ear.

Jack’s face turned to bury itself in Ianto’s neck.  “I love you too,” he returned, his breath tickling the soft skin just below the dragon’s human ear. 

Ianto tightened his arms around his mate, not wanting to lose the connection, and not caring that they were sticky with come and perspiration and the heady scent of sex and Jack’s pheromones surrounding them. 

He needed this.

This was Ianto’s present and future.   No more living in the past.

 


End file.
